Reflections From A Leaky Faucet
by EnnixiaMaeLin
Summary: Connor was a hot-headed, stubborn youth who really shouldn't have been allowed to touch certain things. Hessa was a sensitive, formal girl who didn't react well under pressure. Everyone had their own flaws in that little come-and-go company. In the end, no one cared. Connor/OC OC/OC Total AU
1. Chapter 1

**Beep-boop. Boop. Yes, I am here with yet **_**another **_**story. This one, though, is about (dun dunn!) UNWIND! Epic book, I tell you. UNICORNCHICKENMAGIC1000.2 told me to read it, so I did and it was AMAZING! I'm still not done it yet, but I'm almost there. Maybe another 50 pages or so… But anyway!**

**This story WILL NOT distract me too much from my SYOT. I just needed a break from the reapings over and over and **_**over**_**. Just think of it as a vacation every now and then. A break. A hiatus as they call it. And I also have extreme writers block, so yeah :/.**

_**Reflection From A Leaky Faucet**_** picks up a few minutes before the accident in the beginning starts. It will switch from Connor to Hessa's (my OC) POV – mainly Connor though. Oh, and in my story, Risa did not come. Let's say she was trapped in the bus because a tree fell on it or something. Same with Lev, Connor never dragged him out of the car. And the story will not follow the book. I'm twisting it to fit my view.**

**Anyway, here you go.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Unwind, only Hessa and any family members of hers. I also do not own Florida Orange Juice.**

**HESSA'S POV**

The leather seats weren't as comfy as I recall them being, even though my dad's Prius + was just bought last week. They were hard and stale like old bread rotting in the sun for three years. My fingernails were bitten down to the nub and my mouth was filled with the taste of fancy nail polish. Did my mother want me to look pretty when I died? How cruel, yet thoughtful.

"Dad, can I turn on the radio?" I asked and started at the sleek black surface of the dashboard.

"No." He replied sternly, not taking his cold grey eyes off the traffic in front of him. "Dang why is there so much traffic? Hessa, dear, will you go out and see what the hold-up is? The car's not moving."

_Duh, it's traffic idiot! _"Just so I can get hit by a car and die like your planning for me daddy-dearest?" I mumble and cross my arms. It is true, you know.

"No, then your organs would be all smashed."

My mouth went tight, and my hair stood on end. I shuffled over the passenger seat and unlocked the door. I shut it behind me with a slam, and the harsh, hurtful click of dad locking the door behind me burns a hole right through my heart with a torch. I shoot him a nasty glare and storm past the traffic. On my way up, I start to hear police sirens blaring. My feet stop dead in their tracks. I want to keep going, but suddenly my feet felt like they weighed a hundred and fifty pounds. With all my might, and a strained force, I trudged forward. Fists held by my side, I acted as if I was leaving the harvest camp as a pound un-unwind. The sirens got louder and louder and then, I saw it.

Thousands (okay, maybe not that much) of cars all block the freeway, several crashed and broken. Dead bodies litter the insides of cars and buses. One was even crashed through a bloody window. I doubled over as my hand went straight to my mouth to keep myself from puking. Police officers and Juvey-cops all stood pointing their guns at a boy a bit older than me (by looks). Looks like another unwind has been caught. But then, I see something in that boy. Pride and courage, brave enough to make it this far with no homesickness at all. I wished I could be like him – I'd never have the courage to run away from my home. I love my family, even though their cruel blood thirsty savages. If only I had the mental and physical power to become an AWOL unwind…

Without even thinking of the consequences, I run away from my father. Blocking out the car horns of angry drivers, I leap out onto the freeway.

**CONNER'S POV**

Everything's a blur. Up is down, left is right, black is white. But I feel more powerful than ever. Tranquilizer darts fly by me, ones shot by bad-aimed cops. They make me laugh. I feel good, on top of the world, darting from place to place, finding escape routes for myself. But then, knocking me out of my groove, I see _her_.

Pale as an angel dressed in all white, she leaps out from behind a maroon sedan, and she's looking straight at me. The girl's icy blue eyes bore right into my harvestable brain, practically melting it. Her luscious white-blonde waves swung to her right in the cool autumn breeze. The moment would have been more serene, except for the fact that I was on the verge of being shipped off to a harvest camp like a piece of luggage on an airplane, and the constant blaring off police sirens.

I stand there; stick still, unsure of what to do. The tithe-like angel still stands there, fists curled, large eyes staring right at me. She doesn't even seem to mind the tons of cars honking at her to get out of the highway. My mind feels woozy; I'm so confused for a reason I don't know. Maybe it's because of the fact that she's not moving, like she's hypnotized to watch this horrific scene. We make eye contact for what seems like hours, but is only a few seconds. Suddenly I'm swept over by a tidal wave of sudden speed. My mind takes control of my movements and speeds me forward – towards the girl. Flimsy tranq darts hit angry drivers' windshields, leaving big blue splatters on them. I try to command my brain to stop, but my feet keep lunging forward, and I hurtle forward at unnatural speed (for me at least). It's like my brain is not mine, but one of a marathon runner who is also a criminal.

Hey, I just got the weirdest thought. Is it possible to get the brain of an unwind – and then be unwound? Probably, but the nurses would know. They peep at your private records. But other than that, it would pass by unnoticed.

Before I can stop myself from the chain of events unfolding both on the path behind me and the stretch to come, I'm face to face with the pale girl. Her face is contorted with fear, horror, surprise, and – for some strange twisted reason – relief. My arms take her in a bridal hold and speed off into the forest.

She pounds at my head and flails her legs around. "Let go of me! Put me down you demon! I command you to put me down! Fear me! Please someone help! This boy won't listen to me! Help!" She screams. I put her cries of despair in the back of my mind – along with the pain in my upper neck and head. For a small girl like herself she really can pack a punch.

When I'm sure we're far enough from the crime scene, I abruptly stop and set her down on the underbrush of the forest floor. The girl scrambles to her feet and looks me in the eyes. The peaceful look in them is gone, and is replaced with an utter look of hate and despise.

"What the heck is wrong with you?"" She shouts and gets in my face. "I'm going to report you to the police as a kidnapper and have you unwound!"

"You wouldn't do that!" I yell in response as she fishes around in her small yellow clutch for her phone (I'm presuming). The angel stops for a moment when she hears me speak. She blinks a couple times slowly, but then pulls out her phone. An LG Vortex by the looks of it.

Her icy cold gaze turns to me. "Just. Watch. Me." Her fingers dart across the touch screen, and then she holds the phone up to her small ear. "Hello? 911? I'm here to report a hostage–"

Looking for a hasty last resort to save my life, I do the unthinkable. I kiss her.

Our lips crash in a frenzy of hate, haste, and many other mixed emotions. I pinch my eyes shut so I don't have to see the horrified look on her face, but I peep them open just a bit. Her eyes are as wide around as the Milky Way, and as clear as the Gulf of Mexico's Florida shores. I can see my reflection in them, but it's wiggly and twisted. So it's like looking at it on a drop from a leaking faucet (A/N: Hence the title of this story :P). She doesn't move a single muscle. The only time she moves at all is to breathe and blink. That's an obvious one. When I pull away she still stands there, not even shifting her gaze the slightest little bit. The phone slips out of her grip and hit the grass with a thud. You can still hear the officer on the phone trying to get a hold of her.

"_Miss? Miss please tell us your location. Hello? Hello, are you there? Please tell us your location so we can help? Hello? I'm hanging up now._"

The ringer buzzes out over the still, sticky September air. The angel stirs and looks around, as if she's a dog waking up from extensive surgery. "Wait – what? Did – did…" Her gaze floats to me, and then hardens. "You! You – you – you b-word!"

"Not brave enough to say the real word?" I sneak a sly smile onto my mouth as I wipe the lip-gloss from it.

"You *******!" I'm taken aback. This tithe is feistier than I though. "Why'd you do that?"

"Do what?" I ask innocently.

"Steal my first kiss you weenie!"

"Wait – that was your first kiss?"

She crosses her arms and makes a "humph" sound. "Yeah, and it was supposed to be saved for my boyfriend! And not some kidnapper I've only known for five freaking minutes!"

I suddenly felt even guiltier than I already was. I had stolen something very special from a girl who already had a boyfriend. "Well, just think of it as a favor – saving you from your unwinding. Right?"

She turns away from me and faces a fallen fir tree. "How did you know I was an unwind?"

"You're a tithe, right?"

She stamps her foot and murmurs to herself for a moment. She then starts full-fledged yelling at me. "NO! HOW COULD YOU THINK I'M A TITHE? AM I THAT MUCH OF A SWEETIE HEART TO YOU? I DON'T THINK SO!" She rambled.

"But – the white clothes. It gives it away."

She twirls to face me. I expect her to yell, but her tone is soft and calm. "Don't stereotype. Stereotyping is bad. It's not something you should do. Just because I'm wearing white doesn't mean I'm a happy-peppy-walking-to-their-death tithe. Maybe I just wanted to look pretty."

"I'm sorry. I – I didn't really know what I was saying. Sorry. And – and you really do look pretty, you know."

Her cheeks flush cherry-red and she looks at the forest floor to hide it. But she's an epic fail.

"Uhm…umm…th-th-thank you…" She trails off. She snaps back into the fearful reality we're absorbed in quickly. "Alright, enough chit-chat. The first rule in any escape is to go back to the crime scene." She starts walking back the way we came in a diagonal fashion, but I grab her wrist hastily.

"Wait!" I shout. She tenses up and shakes my hand off her arm. "Are you insane woman? Why would we go back to the freeway? That's where all the cops are!"

"Do. Not. Call. Me. Woman." She growls. I back away quickly. "And cops never expect you to return. So they never inspect the scene. So, are you with me?" She holds out her hand pin-straight, as if she was beckoning me to shake it. I take it and give it a good shake.

"Deal."

We start running back towards the scene, dodging plants and tree limbs and other such wildlife.

"Hey," I say, ducking under a low-lying oak branch. "I'm Conner."

She dodges a holly berry shrub. "Nice to meet you Conner. I'm Hessa."

What a lovely name for such a lovely face…

**HESSA'S POV**

I must have the IQ of an ostrich, 'cause I _still_ don't understand what just happened over the past hours. Nor do I really understand how we got in the back of a Florida Orange Juice shipping truck. Let me trace my steps to see what I can piece together…

I woke up this morning, did morning stuff, then came lunch time, Dad told me we were going out for lunch so I dolled myself up…umm…found out I was being unwound in the car…got sent out to examine the traffic jam, got kidnapped by a runaway unwind named Connor…uhh…went back to the crime scene, hid under the fallen truck for a while, got shooed out when lift trucks came, found a shipping truck pulled over by a cop and secretly hitched a ride in the back and…I guess that's it! Still don't really understand what just happened, but oh well. I'll find out soon.

I looked over and found Connor fast asleep on top of a stack of crated oranges. I don't know how long he's been asleep, maybe thirty minutes or so. I gather up my knees and lean my back against the chilly metal wall of the inner truck. I'm not sitting on an orange crate like Connor, they wood hurts my exposed shins – makes them irritated and itchy. I fan my hand in front of my face. Whew, it's hot in here. Or maybe it's just stuffy. Either way, I need some fresh air – and some sunlight.

I crawl over to the door, feeling my way over in the dim lighting (for some reason, there's a light bulb hanging from the ceiling). When my hands grasp the diamond-shaped handle that opens the back, I give it a haul. The door flies upward but still stays in my grasp. I expect to be bathed in the warmth and light of daytime, but instead I find darkness. Night has fallen. I'm struck by surprise. Has it really been _that_ long since we got on the truck? Since I met _him_? Since I left my family behind?

There are no cars behind us, or really anywhere. So it's safe to sit down and let my legs dangle down over the bottom of the truck. They sway gently in the air that flies past us. The road is so close beneath my feet, so I let my sandals graze the top of the speeding gravel. I'm probably murdering the tread on my shoes, but I don't care. Nothing really matters in this world anymore except living. Life and preventing death for as long as humanely possible. No one should have to die at the young age of 15.

I sigh and play with the fringe on the bottom hinge of my sundress. The daisy in my hair fell out a while back, and is long gone back in the woods now. There aren't any woods for as far as I can see – only spots with low shrubbery and patches of wildflowers and skinny tree lines that line the highways on either side. Broken bottles and piece of plastic scattered across the road light up as the rear lights shine on them. The handle gets warm and sweaty under my palm, so I switch hands for a while.

I take a deep breath of icy cold air and look up at the night sky. It's a cloudy night, but flecks of twinkling stars peek out through breaks in the continuing clouds. I prop my chin up on my free hand and watch the clouds fly by. A car whizzes past us on the other side of the street, so they don't see the two AWOL unwinds hitchhiking in the back of a fruit truck.  
>Suddenly I feel someone grab me from behind and pull me back into the inner cargo hold. I want to scream out for help, but someone's hand clamps over my mouth. When the person stops pulling me back, I break free of his hold and swerve back to see that it's Connor.<p>

"Connor! What the heck?" I shout and point at him. He shushes my mouth with his hand again.

"Shut up!" He whispers. "Do you want to alert the driver?"

I shake my head slowly. He removes his hand. "Why'd you pull me away from the door? I was having a good time!" I put my hands on my hips and "humph".

"Because," He says. "There's a car coming." He points at the horizon behind us and I see the dim light of a car's headlights peering over the hill we just climbed. Connor slips his way over to the door and shuts it quietly. I dig into my purse and pull out a silver cheetah print lighter, which I then lit up a millisecond later. It only provided enough light for a few feet (and enough heat for a thumb), but I could still see Connor's silhouette against the stacks of oranges. It whizzes past us slowly, the sound of it echoing and bouncing off the thin metal walls of the cargo hold.

"You hear that coming all the way away?" I ask, fascinated.

"Yeah, so what?"

I roll my eyes. "So what? That's amazing! Someone would have loved to have your ears."

"Are you saying I'm still an unwind in your eyes?" The happiness is warped from his voice.

"Well, you'll always be until you make it to 18 (_if_), but notice I said _would have_. Think before you act Mr. Lassiter."

He seems taken aback by surprise by my compliment. "Oh! Uhm…well. Someone would have loved to have your eyes."

My cheeks turn rosy again. "As if you haven't complimented me enough today."

He has pride in his statement. "Like what?"

I count off on my fingers. "Pretty name, beautiful eyes, angel, good kisser, pretty lady – "

"Okay maybe I said a lot of things!" He shout-whispers, cutting me off. "But it's all true, and you need to know that."

"Oh, stop!"

We start laughing, but we're abruptly stopped when the truck thumps as if it were going over a bridge. Connor's face looks anxious.

"What's wrong?" I ask as if I was really concerned.

"We're going over a bridge – and a long one at that. Do you know what that means?"

We go over another bump. We're off the bridge. I shake my head. "No. What?"

"It _means_ that we're coming up on a town. Which means that there's a trucker stop nearby."

I gasp. "The trucker's going to pull over to examine his cargo!"

Connor nods as I accept the horrible truth that we might be discovered after all. "Yep. So do you know what that means?"

"No. Do I?" My voice trembles as I talk. I'm more nervous now than when I was kidnapped. Well, take that back.

"We have to jump."

"_JUMP?_" My scream would have woken up anyone sleeping in a three-mile radius.

"Do you wanna be unwound?" Connor whispers to me.

I shake my head again, lips tightly sealed to keep myself from screaming.

"So let's jump."

Connor scrambles over to the door and hauls it open. He gestures for me to come over. I crawl over, nervous and uncertain if I should really trust this boy. When I get there, we both stand up. I put out my lighter and stow it away back in my pocketbook as Connor scans the road in front of us for something.

"There!" He shouts. His voice is almost muted by the sound of rushing air. The force blows my hair in my eyes, half-blinding me, but I'm still able to see the thin patch of grass that runs along the road a few feet past the far left of the truck. "That's where we're gonna jump!"

"Are you sure about this?" I grab onto my biceps in fear. "I mean, we're not gonna get hurt, right?"

"Hopefully not!" He looks over at me. "Are you ready?"

"No!" I scream. It's Connor's turn to roll his eyes at me. He doesn't even reply to me, ask my opinion, or give me any soothing words. He, instead, just starts the countdown.

"Three!"

"Connor I don't wanna do this!"

"Two!"

"No! I'm scared!"

"One!"

On one, Connor wraps his arms around me in one swift motion and jumps diagonal off the back of the truck, towards the grass strip. We both impact the hard earth on our sides, but I he takes most of the punch. My breath still gets knocked out of me. Connor stands up and stretches out his muscles while I lie on the rocky terrain, gasping and trying to regain my breath.

"I just jumped off a truck…" I say, dazed. "I – I just jumped off a freaking truck. Heh, heh…"

Connor helps lift me off the ground and regain my stability. I'm a bit dizzy (okay, I'm _really_ dizzy), but I manage to walk. We cross the other street as the truck disappears over the horizon. Connor takes off his jacket and puts it around my shoulders. I brush it off and keep walking. Connor doesn't seem to mind. He just keeps his brown eyes locked forward. But then I realize how cold it is, so I run back where it fell and put it back on, tying the sleeves around my neck so that it forms some type of stubby shawl. I cross my arms and keep walking.

Connor and me don't make eye contact. The whole way across the street we don't even share as much as a glance at each other's heads. He may have saved me from my death. He may have kissed me. He may have called me pretty. He may have helped me seek refuge on a fruit truck. He may have cushioned my fall mostly. He may have given me his jacket – and I may be wearing it. But that doesn't mean I'm befriending this boy!

We may have to form a bond between the two of us to survive, but I'm never going to fully enjoy the company of Connor.

No matter how pretty he tells me I am.

**CONNOR'S POV**

I twirl the daisy secretly in my pocket. I saw it get caught in a pine thistle when we were running from the Juvey-cops, and I thought it was too beautiful to be left behind. The petals are soft between my fingertips, but they're starting to shrivel up and die since they don't have any water. I look over at Hessa. Her arms are crossed across her chest and her hands grip the edges of my jacket, keeping it steady.

"Are you okay?" I ask her, leaning forward a little bit.

"Fine. Never better." She speaks in a short, clipped voice. Her eyes don't move from the grass in front of her as we walk down the side of the road. Hessa's long waves of hair are tangled up in a rat's nest and the tips are caked with dirt and bits of dried grass. But her eyes stand out like the moon on a starless night. Plus she smells like oranges. Which is always good no matter what.

"You sure?"

"Yup." She pauses for a while before saying something else. "Where are we even going?"

"I wish I could answer that myself, Hessa. I wish I could…"

**END OF CHAPTER ONE**

**Sooooooooo…what d'ya think? Got some romantic tension building up between Hessa and Connor, am I right? Course I'm right! I wrote the story! But anyway, what are your thoughts? Please answer in the review so I can fix any problems for my next chappie!**

**Oh, and I finished the book! It was AWESOME! Kinda sad though. BUT GOOD! I highly recommend it for those who haven't read it. Unintentional rhyming! I love it! Eeeeeeeee! But yeah.**

**You'll learn more about how Hessa deals with her new lifestyle, how Connor acts towards Hessa, Hessa's real feelings towards Connor, and who Hessa's real boyfriend really is!**

**Until then, read, rate, review, and keep on roasting!**

**~EnnixiaMaeLin**


	2. Chapter 2

**HNNNNG I'M SO SORRY THAT THIS TOOK SO LONG TO GET OUT! I've been so busy with school, and then summer came and I got so distracted with all my freedom, and then I picked up digital drawing, and then I got so overwhelmed with back-to-school stuff! Not to mention the fact that I had no plan **_**whatsoever**_** for this story, so I had **_**no**_** idea **_**at all**_** what to do for the rest of the story. But after a few hours of discussion with Arina-Peachy I finally figured out what to do for the rest of the story.**

**Argggh I really do apologize for this **_**seven month long**_** hiatus, it wasn't meant to happen but it just did. Anyway, as of today, this story is back on a regular update schedule!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this **_**very**_** long awaited chapter. And just as a heads up, this story will have quite a bit of suggestive language every now and then during violent scenes, such as later in this chapter.**

**Hope you enjoy!**

**HESSA'S POV**

I take a large glug of the plastic water bottle before setting it down on the soft earthy soil of the rest stop. I had bought it at a vending machine using some spare change in my pocket. I had more, and I offered my partner-in-crime one, but Mr. Lassy-Boy over there is too stubborn to take help from a girl. Whatever, it's his loss. I don't care.

I stand up from the pavement, stretching out my stiff legs and pressing my back against the brick wall of the vertically challenged building. I cracked my joints and looked around for Connor. Where had that boy scampered off to? He could be in the bathrooms, but they were fairly unpleasant when I tried to go. But men are different than us women, so his opinion is probably different than mine. But baby droppings smeared against the diaper changed board and graffiti on the toilet seats is pretty disgusting to all genders in _my_ opinion.

Picking the water bottle back up off the floor, I peer around the corner of the rest stop and hope to see any sign of Connor there.

Nothing. Zip. Just the eerie sound of dripping water fountains and the distant hum of the vending machines. I shrug and turn back around to face the large hill. The rest stop was in a rural part of the state. Small highways were nestled in between large hills and vast forests, along with long valleys. I had grown up a city girl; so being out here was a big change for me. Instead of seeing the dense evergreen trees of the woods, I see two squinted brown things staring right at me.

"Hi Hessa."

_SLAP_.

"Ow!" Connor stumbled back, holding his reddening cheek. "What the heck was that for Hessa?"

I shrug nonchalantly. "Reflexes. What were you doing out there? I thought you said you were going to go on guard duty!"

"I was in the bathroom." He stuffed his hands in his pants pockets. "Where were you?"

"Sitting right here next to the building! Ugh, you are so annoying – you and your lies!"

Connor shrugs like I did and leans against the wall. I want to slap him again, but instead, something deep and rumbling echoes out across the grass. I tense up and look around.

"What was that?" I ask, looking up at the clouded sky. Connor takes his hand out of his pocket and points straight at me.

"It's you Hessa. Calm down."

I'm about to prove him wrong when the sound echoes out again, this time – right from the center of my chest. My hand goes to my stomach.

"You're hungry," He says. I let my eyelids droop.

"No shiz Sherlock." I cross my arms and look over at the distant woods. "Too bad we don't have any money…"

Connor once again points at me. "Purse."

I look down at my hand and see that I'm still clutching the purse from this morning. I look over at Connor, who's grinning like the Joker, and wring out my bag.

_SLAP_.

Connor rubs his cheek again as I slip my purse back up my shoulder. "Ack, what is that? Pure stone?"

I swing my bag back and forth. "Limited edition white leather studded Prada – hurts more than it looks." I stop acting like a careless schoolgirl and start to point fingers.

"Alright, we have money. That's stated and done with. But we don't know how much we have, and how long it will last, Connor. We need to devise a plan and find out what the best way to spend our – excuse me, _my_ – money is. And by the way, purse? Are you f-ing three? Get a vocabulary, and some grammar work."

"McDonalds has a dollar menu."

_SLAP._

"Connor! Stop it! This isn't a joke! Running away isn't all fun and games. This is a serious situation! For all we know, we could outrun the Juvey-Cops, but end up dying of starvation." I turn away from Connor and lean my elbow on the bricks, pressing my cheek against my fist. Some of my hair (which is horribly frizzy due to this heat) falls into my face, but I just brush it back behind my ear and continue to look at the cracked pavement of the cheap, old, run-down rest stop. A hand lightly touches my shoulder, but I jerk my arm away from it. Instead of pulling away though, the hand just comes back and grips onto my shoulder, but still is very gentle and gingerly.

"I understand your frustration, but anger isn't going to solve this problem," I hear Connor say in a quieter, sweeter tone. "We really need to buckle down and figure this out. I suggest we first take inventory of what is in your purse, okay?"

I sniffle a little bit and sit down on the walkway, taking my purse off my shoulder and dumping the contents out by my knees. As we sift through the contents, Connor looks up from my purse and at my face.

"Hessa, are you crying? Your eyes are all red," He asks, concerned. I jerk my head up to meet his eyes and my hand goes to my face. My fingers feel around the base of my eye to find it wet and a little sticky from my make-up running. Due to my intense frustration I guess I never noticed I was tearing up. I rub the back of my wrist along my eyes to dry up any tears give a meek smile. "I-It's just my foundation rubbing off, m-my skin's always b-been a little red under my eyes…"

"You sure?" He brushes a bit of hair out of my face. I nudged his hand away with the back of my left hand. "Yeah, I'm fine. So, let's see what we have…my wallet – we'll check the contents later – a pack of tissues, a little Altoid tin, that mascara I took the label off of, my favorite peach Buxom lip stain, pepper spray – just in case – some chap stick, my lighter, and my vitamin D pills."

"You have to _manually_ take vitamin D pills?" Connor asks, surprised, and I begin to pack away everything else but the wallet. "Once a week to help me get rid of my migraines, although I doubt I'll need to take them now that I'll be living outside and all." I set the purse aside and flipped the latch on my wallet to open it up. My mother had bought me this wallet for my thirteenth birthday when I had an unhealthy obsession with crafting. It was made entirely out of sterilized antique gum wrapper from some old, long dead company called "Orbit". It reminded me of my parents, which put sour, bittersweet memories in my head (A/N: Cue sad music :P).

The wallet contains several cards belonging to various clothing stores and beauty salons. In the wallet there is also my learner's permit and one twenty-dollar bill, no loose change at all.

"Only twenty dollars? Seriously?" Connor sighs and rests his face on his fist, smushing it upwards. I clench it shut again and shoot him a dirty look. "Hey, I was only going to 'lunch' so I didn't think I'd need that much money!" I mutter a few angry words under my breath and put my wallet back in my purse. "So how are we going to do this?"

Connor turned to his right so that he faced a grassless patch in the soil. Using one of the fallen tree branches from the maple hanging over the rest stop, he drew a large circle. "This is where we are." Connor drew a tiny circle in the bottom left of the circle. "This is the highway we got off of." Connor drew two long lines going diagonal across the very bottom and outside of the circle, but still below the rest stop. "If we follow the highway, it'll be 20-30 miles before we reach a town, seeing that we're in the middle of nowhere, but if we cut through the trees back here…" Connor drew a scribble-y line above the rest stop but parallel to the highway before then drawing a straight line going from the rest stop through the woods. "…Then we'll reach a town that was part of a rest stop a mile or so back where we can get something to eat and plan out next move." Connor finished his picture by drawing another small circle at the tip of the line connected to the rest stop.

I stood up quickly and glanced down at Connor real fast before looking over at the tree line to our left. "Then we better not waste anymore time, okay? I'm starving enough already…"

**CONNOR'S POV**

So about a half hour later we were able to slip past the town border and into the closest restaurant – which was a Dunkin' Donuts. Hessa suggested taking an alley route over to the (cheaper) McDonalds, but judging by the lack of cars and dark windows, I was guessing that they were closed, which is weird for a McDonalds. Since we got no strange looks from the cashier, I was guessing that word of our escape had yet to reach this small town. Using about 4 dollars, we bought a half-dozen donuts – 3 glazed, 2 chocolate frosted, and 1 vanilla crème for Hessa. Since we were in no rush, we decided to sit down and leisurely eat at one of the tables. Hessa went for her vanilla crème and I went sweet and chose a chocolate frosted.

The first donut consisted of just small talk about the weather, our families, and anything else non-suspicious. We were the only customers in here, but I'm very paranoid right now, and I want to stay on the safe side – for Hessa's sake.

When her and me had finished our donut and were reaching for our second one, a pair of normal cops waltzed in the door.

"Crap, keep your head down!" I whisper harshly to her and lean my head on my fist and look out the window. My blonde friend put's her hands in her lap and focuses intensely on the edge of the table farthest away from the cops as they approach the counter.

"Excuse me miss," One of them says in a deep voice. " Have you seen either of these two AWOL unwinds?" He then holds up a flyer, which was see-through when held by a light. It only took three seconds to realize that it was me and Hessa on the front of it.

"No, I don't think–"

"Achoo!"

Hessa.

Everybody turns around to see Hessa with her face unknowingly exposed. When she realizes it, it's already too late to avoid a showdown.

"_Shit!_" I whisper and roll over onto the floor near the counter as the cops pull out their guns. It's only a matter of seconds before they start shooting. I leap over the counter and grab the cashier by the shoulders. "Get out of here _right now!_" I then push her over towards the drive-thru window and duck back behind the counter. I hear Hessa scream, and I'm about to leap up and save her, when I hear a cop grunt in pain and before I know it Hessa's right next to me with a terrified expression on her face.

"What did you do?" I yell over the rapid gunfire.

"I kicked the table over and it hit him and I don't know what came over me but – " I cover up her mouth with my hand and get close to her face.

"Hessa, I love it when you talk, but right now is not the time to ramble! Now get over there and distract them!"  
>She nods sharply, mumbles a few unintelligible words, and stumbles over to the donut rack. It's not very long before she starts throwing things, and by things I mean donuts. Normally, I'd find this extremely funny, but in a life-or-death situation like this, I can't find any humor in it at all.<p>

I needed to act fast while Hessa had them distracted…

The first thing I see is a shelf full of plastic coffee cups with frail nails attaching it to the mocha-colored wall. Bingo. I leap up as quietly as I can and tug at the shelf with all my might.

"Connor, what the hell are you doing?" Hessa shouts. A bullet barely misses my head. "Just keep them distracted!" I yell back. She screams randomly and continues to throw objects at them. She had run out of donuts though, so she started throwing other random objects, I ignored her and continued to tug at the shelf. Not that long after, though, I hear a loud _thunk_ and one of the cops collapses on the floor.

"What did you just throw Hessa?" I yell at her over all the commotion.

"I don't know i-it was under the cash register and it was metal and had a handle and – "

"You mean you threw a gun?"

"I panicked!"

I scream several angry cuss words before the shelf rips from the wall, causing a hundred cups to waterfall onto the linoleum floor. Before the lone cop can figure out what's going on, I do a leap-of-faith over what's left of the shot-up counter and smash whatever I had of the shelf over his dark-skinned head. Then, everything went quiet – except for me and my partner-in-crime's panting.

"W-what now?" I hear Hessa say with whatever's left of her breath. I think for a moment before telling her, "Check the cash register for money. I'll search the guns."

I kneel down and check both of the cops' small pistols. One was completely empty, and the other had only one bullet left. Ammo was too expensive, and they weren't worth the extra weight. Right as I'm putting the guns back in the holsters of the unconscious cops, I hear distant police sirens.

"Hurry up Hessa!" I yell and begin to throw stuff at the large front window.

"Okay, one min–" She's cut off by the loud sound of shattering glass. As soon as the window's broken, I run over to the counter, grab Hessa's wrist, and run out of the window.

**So there you go! I really hope you liked it; I spent seven months on this, even though I wasn't writing it 99% of that time span XD**

**NEXT CHAPTER: We introduce a new character into our story! Who is she? What is her past? How will she get along with the rest of our beloved cast of characters?**

**That's a new feature I'm going to add to the story :3**

**Anyway, I can't **_**wait**_** to write more of the story; the plot is so juicy I could just **_**die!**_

**I hope everybody's still here who read it before, and you all can expect another chapter by the end of this weekend!**

**Remember to read, rate, and review!**

**~EnnixiaMaeLin**


	3. Chapter 3

**I am sosososososososososososososo soso sorry for taking so long to update this story! This chapter's been sitting on my desktop for **_**months**_** now, and I just now got around to uploading it and adding in these author annotations.**

**If you read my profile, however, you would see that this story is going on a short hiatus while I figure out what to do with the story. I used to have it all planned out, but I forgot some (if not most) of the story details, so I need to either reconfigure them or try to remember what they were. Arina-Peachy and me had come up with them, she went off to private school and we haven't talked in a few months, so I'm hoping she'll see this update and hopefully help me remember the plot ^_^'**

**I also am focusing a lot of my energy on writing another Portal story that is not on FF **_**and**_** my two Tumblr blogs, which both require a lot of attention. With the New Year, though, I am hoping to rejuvenate this account and continue to write these stories of mine, but only time will tell if I actually will.**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Unwind.**

**CONNOR'S POV**

We crash on a large patch of grass, panting. My vision's all blurry, and I feel like I'm about to throw up my donut. Hessa doesn't look any better. I manage to pull myself off the ground long enough to survey where we landed. It was a small park, filled with only a metal jungle gym, a slide, a two-swing swing set, and a few benches. We were the only ones in the park, other than a lone girl sitting on one of the swings.

I sit down and run my fingers through my hair. I hear Hessa groan and shift around on the ground.

"I-I-" I hear her stutter, completely out of breath. "-I got the donuts…" I look over to see her lying on her back, face red, holding up the box of donuts. It looked a little squashed, but I'm sure it's okay.

"Thanks, I guess," I say. I actually appreciate the favor; it'll give us another free meal.

"What now?"

"I-I don't know," I reply and dab at my forehead with the back of my hand. "But we should probably keep moving."

"O-Okay…"

I get to my feet and help Hessa to hers. She brushes the dirt off of her dress, although it's still covered in grass stains. We'd need some new clothes soon, while our names are still mostly unknown. As we begin to slip into the woods. I hear a voice behind me.

"Billee doesn't like the woods very much."

I stop dead in my tracks and remember the girl from the swing set. I turn around and see her looking down at her feet. Now that I'm taking a longer look at her, I take into account what she looks like.

She's young, maybe 13, and is fairly short. Her hair is long, straight, and auburn in color, and her eyes look as if they've been splattered with wet mud. The only things she wore were a thin red t-shirt and faded overalls with one of the straps broken.

"There are too many trees."

She looked harmless, so I spoke to her. "Excuse me, but who's Billee?"

The girl made eye contact with me and giggled. "You're looking at her."

"Oh." I look over at Hessa to see what we should do about the strange girl, but she's not there. When I look back to the strange girl, I see Hessa kneeling on the ground by her.

"Hi there Billee! My names Hessa," She smiled. "Why are you all alone out here?"

Billee started swinging her legs and her smile disappeared. "Billee's parents wanted a boy. They wanted one so bad, that when Billee was born, they just assumed she was a boy. As Billee grew up, her parents realized she was a girl, and became very upset. So when Billee turned thirteen, her parents decided to have her unwound. Billee didn't wanna die, so she ran away, and ended up here." At the end of her speech, she smiled. Hessa smiled as well before turning to me.

"She's an AWOL too, Connor," Hessa's smile faded. "Can we take her with us?"

My first response – hell no. That's extra money _and_ extra responsibility. "No way, Hessa, no way. We're already tight on money, and a third person would just weigh us down. Let her survive on her own."

"Connor!" She stood up and her expression angered. "How _dare_ you turn away in the face of a helpless child! I expected more out of you!" Hessa them 'harrumphed' and crossed her arms. Billee just kept swinging her legs and looking down at the dirt.

I rubbed my temples and sighed. "Fine. But she's _your_ responsibility."

Hessa squeals and runs over to me. Before I can stop her, she wraps her arms around my body and hugs me. I can't help but blush, and right as I lift my arms up to return the hug, she's gone back over to Billee. My partner-in-crime then takes the donut box out from under her arm, opens it up, and says to Billee,

"Would you like one?"

A few minutes pass and we're almost ready to move out. Billee had finished her chocolate frosted donut already (leaving three glazed for later), and was searching through her pockets. I had asked her if she had anything on her, whether it was a phone or some loose change. Judging by how many times she'd checked both of them, I'd say she had nothing but little tufts of pocket fuzz.

Earlier in Billee's meal, Hessa had suggested going to Goodwill to pick out some new clothes. They were cheap, and most of the time very good quality. If we were able to hitch a ride on another truck again, we could reach another town in no time. After finally convincing Billee to go through the woods to reach the rest stop from before, we start off. Conversation involving me is dull, but Hessa and Billee were chatting up a storm behind me the entire time.

The only cars at the rest stop were an old, rusted convertible, a Ford Fusion, and a big, clunky, dirt-covered truck. The truck was our best option with the open back and all, so we were able to slip onto it and behind a few big boxes of whatever. All I knew were that they smelled like algae and lake water. Because of our concealed bodies, we were able to watch the road signs without being seen. Our best hope was a town called Littleton, which appeared to have a large shopping center judging by all the billboards. The large crowds could hide us, plus there's a really good chance of finding a Goodwill.

As we began to close in on the final miles of our trip, we prepare to jump. Nobody wanted to jump by himself or herself, so we decided to do it at once. As our exit approached, we made sure that no cars were near enough to see our faces, and we jumped. The landing was a bit harder than before, judging by the fact that we landed on a large chunk of packed, grassless dirt, and the fact that we had an extra person. But we toughen it out, brush off the dirt, and keep following the paved road to the town.

**HESSA'S POV**

To avoid getting strange looks for our bedraggled appearance, we cut across the back parking lots of several fast food restaurants to get to the center of town. The entrance to the shopping mall came equipped with a large map of the mall. Thankfully, there was a Goodwill (having a closing sale!) in a separate building to our right. Looking both ways, we run across the road and follow the parking lot to the store. We limited ourselves to 26 dollars (altogether) to shop for _one_ outfit. That would use up the rest of the sixteen from my purse and ten from the fifty dollars I snagged from the Dunkin' Donuts before we had to leave. That leaves us two twenties, which should last us a good while.

"I'm going to go over here with Billee to help her try on clothes–"

"Billee _told_ you that she's old enough to do it by herself!" Billee cut me off. I look down at her, ruffle her hair, and reply, "Everybody needs a little judgment." I then turn back to Connor and continue my original statement. "You go off by yourself and meet us back here in twenty minutes, okay?" He nods before wandering off into the men's department.

Billee tugged on my arm and ran over to one of the most colorful racks in the store before browsing it vigorously. I giggle and walk over to a different rack close to her, but full of teen clothes instead of children's. After about ten minutes of browsing and looking at price tags, we finally took back our favorites to the dressing room. Both fit well, except I had to send Billee back to get a warmer shirt. Fall would be upon us soon, and who knows how long we'd be out here.

We meet Connor back up at the front of the store, where he looks like he'd been waiting there forever, and we go up to the counter to pay. My outfit cost the most, coming in at eleven dollars, while Billee's cost nine and Connor's cost six. Since there isn't any tax on clothes in this state, we come in at exactly 26 dollars. We take our bags from the elderly lady at the counter, say thank you (she was so sweet, I don't even think she knew who we were or how we looked), and head over to the thick woods behind the shopping mall to change. It was a little awkward changing clothes because Billee made me hold her hands due to her fear of trees, but we were able to complete the feat. After helping Billee with the last snap on her outfit, we come out from behind the thickly leaved tree we were standing behind and meet up with Connor.

I'd chosen a simple, elegantly floral patterned button up blouse with elbow length sleeves, faded light blue skinny jeans, and black chunk-heeled Mary Janes. Billee had gotten a new pair of darker jean overalls, a long sleeve white cotton shirt, and grey tennis shoes. Connor had gone simple and just got new medium-wash jeans and a black t-shirt with some weird silver logo on the front. He had decided to keep his old black sneakers, since they were in good shape, and he said he could always get a jacket when the weather got colder. Also, since we had a purchase of twenty five dollars or more, we got a free pair of socks, which we gave to Billee since she didn't have any.

The moment I stepped out from the rock I made direct eye contact with Connor. No reason, it was just one of those awkward eye contact you make with random people on the street for no good reason. Of course, we look away as soon as it happens and we both turn as red as cherry tomatoes.

"Uhm…" I hear Connor stutter. I tighten my lips and continue to look at a leaf on the ground. "You look nice…"

"Uh, thanks…" My reply is emotionless, except for a small, fairly noticeable amount of shyness. The awkward silence would have continued for probably several more minutes, but Billee interrupts it cheerfully, yet confused.

"What are Billee and her friends going to do with all their other clothes?" She asks, letting go of my hand and walking forward so that she was between us. Connor looks up from the ground, practically avoiding my face, and picks up a handful of pine straw. "It's very simple Billee," He says, holding up the needles. "We burn them."

To prevent a forest fire, we decided to do it late at night in one of the parking garages. Everybody will have left, plus we can't burn it down. Since it was early afternoon, we couldn't do it for at least six hours, so we had to stall. For most of the time, we just loitered on the far corner of the top floor. It was fairly warm out, plus there weren't as many cars. About four hours into it, we stopped talking about random time-passing things and ate the last three glazed donuts. We could go to the food court tomorrow and buy another days worth of food at the cheapest fast-food restaurant. Another hour into it Billee had to use the bathroom, so we all went down and used it before it got too late and they closed them down. Since it was a Sunday, the mall was going to close at 9 (according to the sign plastered on the gate), so they would be locking the elevators and bathrooms at nightfall. When the last bit of the sun disappeared below the horizon, we went down to one of the middle floors and started to spread the pine needle we had brought in. The mall had fairly cheap security (most of the money had gone into the appearance and shops), so there were no mall cops to search the garage and no security cameras to record us.

After all the "leaves" had been spread out into a circle, we piled our old clothes in the middle. I had no trouble parting with my dress or my tattered (and not to mention now-broken) flip-flops, but my purse was a challenge. When it was the last piece of evidence left, I choked up.

"C'mon Hessa, throw it on top so we can light it," Connor softly encouraged me. I wanted to hold my arm out and just let it drop, but I couldn't get myself to pull it away from my chest. When I couldn't drop it, I just held it out in both of my palms and looked at it.

This lemon colored clutch was the last thing I'd ever have of my family. I bought it using the money my grandmother gave me for my fourteenth birthday. The wallet (explained earlier) was a gift from my mother two, almost three years ago. That wallet contained everything – all my gift cards from friends and little memos concerning inside jokes and even my permit. Without that permit, I have no way to prove that I'm Hessa DeVouchè – which is a good thing in terms of an AWOL unwind – but it's like I'm nobody. I can't drive legally or tell people that I passed my test after three failed tries on the same day. The purse also had my three favorite make-up items. My friend Ivy bought them for me when I was feeling down back in January when Daniel (my boyfriend) and me had a fight. She had bought everything from memory, and I couldn't have thanked her enough. Then I had the Altoids can I found in the bottom of a vending machine when I bought a Diet Coke on a hot July day (it hadn't been opened of course). The lighter and pepper spray I would keep, so that left my house key. Without it, I no longer am welcome in my home. I can't watch soap operas under my favorite green Sherpa, or twirl around on one of the silver bar stools, or cry into my pink childhood pillow, or… or...

"Hessa are you crying?" I hear Connor blurt out as all sounds of reality return to me. I sniffle and drop my purse at my feet before cupping my eyes with my hands and crumbling to my knees. My eyes overflow with tears and my hands become stained with runny black eyeliner. I couldn't stop myself – my whole past life was practically being erased. All those happy moments they – they – they mean nothing now. They were all lies.

"Hessa, please stop crying!" I hear Connor shout before he (I could tell by his rough grip) grabbed my wrists and replied in a much soother tone, "Tell me what's wrong."

"That purse holds so many memories without it I- I – I'm no longer myself. I have no proof that I'm Hessa Elaine DeVouchè. I no longer live on my street or go to my school or – "

"Hessa! You have to let that go! Your parents decided to have you unwound and you can't go back ever!"

"But I love them no matter what they did to me and –" I'm cut off by somebody smaller and more frail hugging me from the behind. The only person it could be was Billee.

"Please don't cry Miss Hessa," She said, hugging me tighter. "We've all had to go through these problems, and we've all had to sacrifice our pasts." I sniffle a little bit and drop my hands into my lap but keep my head low and the tears flowing. "It's not easy, but if you want to keep living happily you sometimes have to give up the things you love most. Sure, you may not think that you could live without them, but you can. Billee knows it, because when she gave up what she thought was happiness she found true happiness with her new two best friends." I stop crying because of sadness and begin to cry again in happiness. I'd have never thought that Billee could have thought up something so poetic yet comforting. "So please don't cry Miss Hessa, you'll always be the same cheerful girl to us, whether you have proof or not." I turn around and hug Billee to the ground.

"Thank you so much Billee, so much. No words can describe how that has made me feel."

"Happy?" She replied, blissfully unaware of the saying's meaning. I laugh and stand up. After retrieving the pepper spray and lighter from my bag, I threw it on top or the clothes pile. When Connor gave the signal, I kneeled down and let my past go up in crimson flames.

**CONNOR'S POV**

After the fire had died down (so, like, an hour) enough for us to go to sleep without worrying about getting set on fire, we migrated back up to the top floor and found shelter back in the far corner of the lot. If we wake up when the alarm goes of in the morning (signaling the opening of the garage), we should be able to head into the mall without anybody finding out about our overnight stay. We didn't have a blanket, so we all kind of had to huddle together to keep warm, with Billee in between me and Hessa to avoid and awkwardness. I had a little bit of trouble going to sleep, but Hessa and Billee seemed to have "emotion-ed" themselves out earlier, so they were fast asleep in little time.

I passed the time waiting for sleep to take me with thoughts of the future. We couldn't just keep hopping from town to town, buying cheap food and sleeping in parking lots. We had to find a way to obtain safety for the next two years until I became an adult and could take Billee and Hessa in as my own family. But that would be hard, because we're now fugitives all over the country, but that gives me an idea…

I smiled joyfully up at the stars with my discovery before rolling over onto my left side to face the two girls. It was late, so I would tell them my plan in the morning.

**So yeah. There. Chapter 3 is finally up and running. I **_**do**_**, after reading through this, remember the basics of the plot (concerning dearest Connor's plan) and some of the other characters appearing in the story (other than Billee), but I still need some time to remember.**

**I explained a lot of stuff I needed to in the earlier A/N, so I don't have much else to say.**

**Until the next time I see you guys, don't forget to read, rate, review, and keep on roasting.**

_**~EnnixiaMaeLin**_


End file.
